Framed in Malegaon blast case to justify ‘Hindu terror theory’: Accused

Mumbai: Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Tuesday claimed that he was implicated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) due to the then United Progressive Alliance government’s pressure to “justify their Hindu terror theory”. In his statement submitted before the special NIA court here, he claimed he was

innocent and had nothing to do with the blast.

“I am an innocent accused, falsely framed in this case by the Anti Terrorism Squad, Mumbai, due to political pressure exerted upon them by the UPA governments at the Centre & the state to somehow justify their Hindu terror theory,” the statement said.

The ATS not only tortured him physically, but also harassed him mentally in “illegal custody”, it said.

“Psychological pressure was also mounted upon me by threatening my house owner as to why he was sheltering a terrorist by renting out his bungalow. I was threatened that my wife will be paraded naked, my unmarried daughter would be raped, son’s jaw would be broken,” Upadhyay alleged.

When he refused to confess or implicate others, he was arrested on a Diwali night and produced before a judicial magistrate in Nashik, he claimed.

He showed torture marks on his body to the magistrate, agreed to cooperate with the investigation and also gave his consent for narco- analysis

to prove his innocence, the statement said.

“Polygraph tests and narco analysis reports exonerated me of any involvement in this case. As they gave me a clean chit, ATS did not produce these reports in this court,” the accused claimed.

There was no evidence against him in the charge sheets or the statements of the witnesses, he said.